


Stay with me

by scriptingSouls



Category: Free!
Genre: Kink Meme, M/M, puppy Makoto to human Makoto
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2017-12-30 13:38:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scriptingSouls/pseuds/scriptingSouls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From kink meme prompt. </p><p>Haru's parents give him a puppy before they leave so he won't be alone,  it quickly becomes Haru's only and best friend.  But there's more to the puppy than meets the eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> From this prompt in the kink meme 
> 
> iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth(.)org(/)1985(.)html?thread=2143681#cmt2143681
> 
> Prompt: 
> 
> When Haruka's parents went to another city for work and left him in Iwatobi, they gave him a golden retriever puppy so he wasn't alone. Haruka always thought he was more a cat person, but he quickly grew fond of the puppy. He named it Makoto (maybe Haruka thought "he" has a "she" at first?) and, in time, Makoto became his only and best friend. He is always by his side, waiting for him, happy for him, and he feels Makoto understands him.
> 
> On New Year, when he went to the temple to pray as custom, feeling terribly lonely on Christmas, Haruka prays. He wish Makoto could talk. He wish Makoto would be human...

His grandmother always told him stories. He used to sit on the floor by her rocking chair or walk behind her as she did her chores. They were sometimes macabre, tales of what happened to children who did reckless things despite their parent’s warnings, or about supernatural evil forces that lurked in the darkness. Haru never minded the scary aspects of the stories, it was the friendship of the characters what always stuck in his mind even hours after he'd heard the story. 

When he was four and his parents took him to the shrine on New Year’s, they told him he had to pray for his loved ones and ask for something he wanted to be blessed with, so he asked for friends. His parents thought it was cute and they told him he'd definitely made friends when he started school. 

They lied. 

Haru had spent his whole school life friendless. Somehow the boys in his class and the characters of his grandmother's stories never seemed to match. In the stories the children had bonds, had strong memories together that made them cling to each other, even when they were being mischievous and bringing themselves a horrible fate, their friendship was beautiful. The boys in his class however... were idiots. 

Haru knew it was his fault; it was his own strange personality that made it impossible for him to relate to other boys. They seemed to get along just fine among themselves, but he couldn't bring himself to act like them only to be a part of them. 

He became angry at himself, at life, it was too ironic for him to want friendship so badly when he didn't even like people. 

Perhaps he had idolized the concept in his mind, pictured it as something too noble for humans, and now he couldn't settle for less. He'd stopped wanting friends somewhere along the way and resented the whole idea of friendship at the end. 

His parents worried about him, but they gave up too when they realized Haru was Haru and he wasn't going to change. When the opportunity came for his father to get a better job, they took it, and when they gave Haru the option of staying, he took it. 

They felt guilty about leaving their only son alone (though not guilty enough for staying Haru thought) so they wanted him to have some sort of companion. They knew the Tachibana family down the street had promised to take care of Haru and look out for him, they hadn't been blessed with children so they were always happy to welcome Haru as their own. 

Still, they didn't want Haru to be alone in the house so the day they left, while carrying boxes out of the house and into the moving truck his father defied the action by bringing a box inside and leaving it in Haru's bedroom. 

They said their goodbyes just before noon and left Haru with the Tachibanas, who had invited him for lunch so he wouldn't be alone. 

Haru liked the couple, sometimes he felt guilty because he liked them better than his own parents, they weren't judgmental nor did they see anything wrong with him, they never pushed him to try and become more normal. 

The woman was always quick to smile and show enthusiasm for whatever Haru talked about, the man was quiet like himself with a strange but contagious sense of humor, they didn't mind Haru not talking much and they always made him feel at home and let him just be. Sometimes he felt more comfortable spending the afternoon at their house than at his own, just sitting around or helping Mrs. Tachibana with the house chores. 

They had given him permission to enter the house when they weren't there so he did that sometimes, tidied the house for them, waited them with some coffee or just watched tv on their couch. 

That day however they insisted that he return home to at least get a fresh set of clothes, it was unusual behavior but Haru didn't question it. 

When he entered his now empty house though, he realized the reason immediately. From upstairs he could hear cries, animal cries. It sounded like a puppy crying out for his mother so he quickly ran upstairs and into his room to find a box at the feet of his bed with a note on top. 

"So you have some company, even though you have the stray cats we thought a cheerful puppy would make the house livelier - Love mom and dad"

Haru stared at the note for a while, conflicted. He suddenly missed his parents, even if they seemed like they spoke another language and were completely unrelated to him sometimes, he loved them. 

The cries of the puppy however brought him back to the present and he immediately opened the box. A shivering golden ball of fur looked at him with big scared eyes, as if asking him to save him from the horrors of the darkness and solitude. With a tug at his chest he suddenly realized the puppy felt as alone and abandoned like himself, though it was better at exteriorizing it. 

Maybe it was because he'd just been left alone and he was more sensitive, or because it would be the anniversary of his grandmothers death in just a few weeks but he felt a strong connection with the dog. Even if he'd always been a cat person and found dogs too energetic and attention demanding for his taste there was something in the eager look of those eyes, begging him to take care of it and its strangled cries that made Haru want to do just that. 

 

He picked it up and hugged it to his chest, trying to get it to stop shivering. The puppy gave a few more cries and seemed to calm down. Getting himself comfortable in Haru's arms and almost falling asleep. Haru stayed there for the longest of time, just clutching the puppy to him and petting his fluffy back. 

He decided he should feed the puppy, luckily for him his parents had left plenty of milk in the fridge.  
He warmed up a little and put it in a plate, he placed the puppy gently on the floor and moved the plate to it. The puppy flinched and cried, scared, Haru chuckled "Your a little scaredy cat aren't you?" 

He bent down slowly trying not to use any brusque movement and carefully inched the plate to de puppy, whispering soothing words of comfort. The puppy looked at him in the eyes, Haru could almost make a little frown on its face as if it was trying to determine whether he should trust Haru or not, he decided he would and slowly moved his nose to test the liquid, he then proceeded to lap the milk greedily moving its little tail in extreme joy. The change of mood was so abrupt it made Haru chuckle again. "You're a little weird aren't you?" He asked this time, the puppy stopped drinking to look at him in the eyes and answer with an excited wannabe bark that made Haru's heart melt a little. "It's ok, so am I" He used his fingers to scratch the tiny years as the puppy continued to lap its meal. 

He heard silent footsteps behind him and turned to see Mrs. Tachibana's smile. 

"So you found him" She said, voice calm and quiet as not to disturb the gentle atmosphere, Haru just nodded. 

"Have you named him yet? Please don't call him Mackerel" She chuckled 

Haru winced and looked at the puppy, he hadn't thought of a name yet, he wasn't good with names. He stared at the puppy intently and the puppy stared back, he couldn't place any name on the face, nothing seemed quite right, not even Mackerel. 

"Well I could help you if you want, lets see" Mrs. Tachibana walked closer and kneeled next to Haru, slowly stretching her hand to ease her fingers through the puppy's fur. The small dog didn't even flinch, instead he stopped drinking to lap at the woman’s finger tips happily, she chuckled and Haru smiled. 

"Friendly little thing he is" She started to say but then gasped. Haru looked at her, there was wonderment in her eyes "Its eyes..." she said slowly "They look green" 

Haru hadn't thought much of it, being around cats he was familiar with different eyes colors but he realized it wasn't as common in dogs. Though he could have sworn the puppies had had brown eyes 

"Maybe it's the light" He said and the woman answered with a nod, still caressing the fur. They both seemed to be deep in thought. 

"Makoto" She said decidedly. Haru blinked for a few seconds. 

"That's a... girly name" His voice had no scorn though, he seemed to be contemplating the idea. The woman gave a heart felt laugh and it amazed Haru how the puppy again, didn't flinch. 

"I like it" she said and Haru looked at the puppy again

"Makoto" he said, and the roll of the words on his tongue felt right. 

"Makoto" He said again and the puppy looked up.


	2. Chapter 2

 

The puppy had a name then, Makoto.

He felt a little guilty at sentencing him to girly name, but the puppy seemed to like it and it's not like dogs really cared about that sort of things. The fact that he wasn't alone in that predicament anymore didn't hurt either.

Makoto proved to be a handful though, not because he was particularly restless or mischievous, on the contrary he was surprisingly well behaved but.. he was still too lively to Haru's taste.

More often than not Haru found himself annoyed by the way Makoto would lick his face to wake him up, jump on him when he came back from school or steal his shoes when he wanted to play, even when Haru never chased him the puppy kept on doing it.

Yet for some reason he couldn't feel angry.

He had thought he'd be ok with the house to himself, without the arguments and the frustrated looks of his parents at what they called his stubbornness.   
It wasn't that much of a change to be honest, the house had always been quiet since his grandmother had died and Haru only saw his parents during breakfast and dinner, he tried to avoid them as much as he could.

But now every time he left his shoes scattered or ate at weird hours he found himself waiting for a reprimand that never came, and instead of relief he felt the void of it.

That's what Haru hated about people, they were always such a hassle. Human relations always brought conflict with them. Whether it was parents, or friends or teachers they always expected something of you, always wanted to push their own ideas and expectations on you and when you refused they made their disappointment known. And then they left.

His grandmother had been different, she always seemed to understand him despite his silences. She was the cushion that bounced away his parents reprimands.   
She was gone now though, and so were his parents.

the insistent tug on his pants leg however reminded him he wasn't alone.

 

 

He soon found out that Makoto hadn't been scared only because he had been separated from his mother and taken to a foreign place. He was just scared of everything.

There where rooms he refused to enter, like his grandmother's or his parents. Noises in the night made him cry and he hated darkness, except the one under haru's bed, that was his favorite place in all the house, it was where he always slept.

Haru found him one day in the bathroom in a corner and trying to fuse with the wall to get away from a dead cockroach on the floor. He'd looked at Haru with teary eyes and didn't move until Haru took the bug away, then he spent a few days refusing to enter the bathroom too. They say dogs don't have long term memory but he thought otherwise. Because of that incident, taking baths had become an issue. Every time he was in the bathroom Makoto cried for him, unable to enter the room but not wanting to be away from Haru, he could see the puppy conflict whenever he tried putting a paw pass the imaginary limit of the door and quickly retrieved it. It would always end with his sad eyes looking at Haru and Haru reluctantly getting out of his bath, unable to take the sad look any longer

Baths were also forbidden, he had tried sharing the bathtub with the puppy, thinking he could kill two birds with one stone by also cleaning the puppy, but he had been terrified of water. So gentle showers where the only way to get him clean.

Still, usually when he did take baths Makoto would put his paws on the bathtub edge and look at him with his big expressive eyes, as if asking Haru why he was so obsessed with being there, he wanted to understand but even if he didn't he still stayed. Haru would scratch his ear reassuringly and that seemed to be enough answer for Mako for he would open his mouth and let his tounge hang in a gesture that looked like a big smile.

  
At some point he started walking Haru to school, Haru hadn't want Makoto to leave the house alone but the dog always managed to do just that. He was scared of a car running over him but Makoto proved to be a very smart dog. Some days when Haru hadn't visited the Tachibanas for too long instead of waiting for Haru at the usual place at the staris to his house, he waited Haru at the stairs that led to the Tachibanas, as if telling him he didn't approve of Haru's solitude. When Haru only looked and kept going his way, Makoto would follow barking and bite his shoes and pants, insisting on Haru to get some company.

Haru realized then, Makoto was no ordinary dog. He knew pet owners just as parents got ridiculously proud of their little bundles of joy and attributed crazy random behaviors of their pets to some sort of genius. But he couldn't deny Makoto was much too smart for his own good. Like when Haru discovered the way he left the house, climbing the kitchen sink and unlocking the kitchen window with his teeth.

One day Makoto started handling Haru's towel when he got out of the bath yet Haru had never trained him, when it rained he actually went to pick it upstairs and returned with it so Haru could dry himself. He picked shoes and stuff for Haru. He'd steal his mackerel away when Haru ate it for too long and barked at the fridge instead, sometimes he dragged Haru down to the shop as if telling him to buy something decent.

He didn't know when exactly but at some point he started speaking to Makoto as if he were a person. He'd have whole conversations with his dog even in the street, earning him glances.

Then it came the day that Haru had completely grown used to Makoto without even realizing. Neither did he realized, that for the first time in his life... he had a friend.


End file.
